The Next ‘Die Hard’ Movie Is the First One Without the Phrase ‘Die Hard’ in the Title

First there was Die Hard. And lo, did Bruce Willis’ John McClane die hard. Then there was a sequel, Die Hard 2 (sometimes also Die Harder, because movies are magic). Next came, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Then Live Free or Die Hard, the most New Hampshirish of the Die Hard films. And finally there was A Good Day to Die Hard, because there’s really not that many famous expressions with the word “die” at the end that you can add a “hard” to.

It’s been five years since that fifth Die Hard. A sixth film is in development, and according to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, it will be the first Die Hard without those two signature words in the title. In an interview with Empire, he said:

‘You can tell our intention by the fact that the title page we handed in says, McCLANE,’ producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Empire. ‘We want you to get invested in John McClane more than ever before.’ He added that, despite rumors that the prequel section would take up more of the runtime, the sequel-prequel approach will feature Bruce Willis just as much as his younger incarnation.

I guess people know that Die Hard is about John McClane? He is the guy in all the movies. So I suppose there are worse things to call a Die Hard prequel/sequel that’s set in the past and the present. (For example, they could have called it The Die Hard Is Cast. That would be worse.) It’s also interesting to hear that Willis’ part is much more than a framing story cameo. I would have assumed the opposite. Truly, he refuses to let his involvement in this franchise uh... um... what’s the word I’m looking for?